Daniel Bryan is finally the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The emotions he has been through over the last few weeks were both good…yet also bad. While Daniel Bryan won the World Title at WrestleMania 30 to the happiness of 90% of the WWE fans and even married the love of his life and WWE Diva Brie Bella, he also lost his dad yesterday.
Daniel Bryan was always supposed to be on WWE RAW last night as he took the previous week off after marrying Brie. This was to be his first RAW appearance as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. However, Bryan learned of the passing of his father yesterday and things completely went from high to immediate low.
It was terrific that his father got to see him accomplish his dream and get married to Brie. I think Bryan may take solace in that fact alone. Yet the loss of a parent is never easy. Despite this, Bryan is a professional . So he appeared on RAW anyway. You could immediately see the emotion on his face. He didn’t look good. Tears were coming down, his eyes were red, and his face was white.
WWE did the best thing they could do with Bryan in this way. They had him written off TV. Basically they worked perfectly with Bryan and what he needed as well as what the company needed.
Kane needed to come off as a legit monster so that they could make a match with Bryan at Extreme Rules look good. The WWE refrained from mentioning the passing of Bryan’s father but did reference the recent marriage. They also did not have Bryan learn a promo or say anything other than YES for his entrance.
Stephanie McMahon came out to take over the promo spot and announce the match at Extreme Rules between Bryan and Kane for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion . Kane then came out to attack Bryan and go over as a monster. He tombstoned Bryan 3 times. Once to the outside of the ring, next to the steel steps, then finally on the announce table.
The official diagnosis that WWE went with for the storyline injury was a “stinger”. Interestingly enough, Bryan has had a stinger in the past that happened on RAW in a match with Randy Orton, a real one. He was fine to return later in the night but appeared the following week. WWE did this as a way to make people believe he could be back on TV whenever they plan to return him but also make a reason up as to why he not there.
The idea is to have Bryan return at the Extreme Rules PPV, giving him a few weeks off to spend with his family during this tough time.
Bryan and Brie left immediately after the RAW segment. Their bags were packed already and many Superstars and Divas were waiting to hug them and wish them well. A car was waiting on them to take them to the airport as well. So the WWE was terrific to Bryan and Brie in this circumstance.
Bryan was also a great employee for staying to do the spot when I’m sure he was not going to be forced to do so. If there is anything else we have to respect about Daniel Bryan, it would be that. We also have to respect WWE for the way they handled the situation as well. On behalf of The Inquisitr, we send our condolences to Bryan for the loss of his father and we wish he and his family well in this tough time.